Disco Inferno was an Englishexperimental rock band active in the late 1980s and the 1990s. Although at root a standard rock trio of guitar, bass guitar and drums, and writing songs in an identifiable post-punk style, the band pioneered a dynamic use of extensive digital samples triggered from standard rock instruments. While commercially unsuccessful during their existence, the band is considered to be a key post-rock band.

Disco Inferno was formed in Essex in the late 1980s, by schoolboy musicians Ian Crause (guitar and vocals), Paul Wilmott (bass), Rob Whatley (drums) and Daniel Gish (keyboards). Initially Crause shared the guitar playing/singing role with a fifth (and unnamed) group member who was eventually ousted . Gish left shortly afterwards to join Bark Psychosis, leaving the band as the trio lineup they would retain until the end of their career.

The band took on the name Disco Inferno as a joke, naming themselves after the classic dancefloor track by The Trammps, which was as far from the sound of the band themselves as could be imagined. (Years later, when established as a credible alternative rock act in Britain, the band found themselves losing potential American bookings due to American agents being discouraged by the name. Crause would later describe this situation as "a joke which had long since gone sour.")

By 1992, the band changed their approach. Willmott would later recall that "("Science") got some slightly better press, but were still playing to the bar staff most nights in any venue that would let us play. We were frustrated, ambitious and wanted to make an impression. Bands that we liked were using samplers and there seemed to be no reason apart from the financial that we shouldn't look to use them. We were listening to "Blue Lines", "Loveless", "Adventures Beyond The Ultraworld"; open to possibilities. We were conscious of the clone indie kid and wanted to be anything but tribal. We had been together just over three years and collectively were getting nowhere; it became a @#!*% or bust moment. At least we would die trying."[3]

In a 2011 interview, Crause explained "From '92 I had become @#!*% -bent on innovating cos things like Public Enemy and Young Gods blew my mind, but it's when it's allied to a human perspective that technical innovation holds its artistic power otherwise it's just a technical exercise. That's what a lot of that post rock is, as I understand it. So while I tried consciously to innovate... my instincts led me to value the other side of things and that's the essence of the band's appeal, I think. We had both sides... Most of these other what are now called post-rock groups, I think they regarded us as a kind of tinker-toy group because of the pop songs and the sampling so there was little chance of them deciding to follow us in the sampling - no critical consensus had been built for them to aspire to it - we kind of got ours from Public Enemy, who were too black and the Young Gods, who sang in French, for @#!*% 's sake! And it wasn't seen as 'serious' enough, perhaps meaning it wasn't seen as commercially viable enough... who knows. Anyway, I did it 'cos I had the ideas."[3]

The band's musical approach reached its peak on their second album D.I. Go Pop. The album's music was harsh and concise, with the melody on the eight tracks often carried by the bassline, while an array of samples (including running water, breaking glass, car crashes and fax machines) built the musical collages. After D.I. Go Pop the band opted for restraint on "Second Language", which also featured a new-found optimism in Crause's lyrics. The band's next single, "It's a Kid's World" sampled the drumbeat from Iggy Pop's "Lust for Life" and added in a series of old children's TV themes.

Despite critical acclaim, Disco Inferno attracted little commercial success. With the band still barely out of their teens, combined artistic and financial pressure began to erode their sense of common purpose and loyalty. The band split acrimoniously in 1995, prior to the release of their final album, Technicolour which was released in 1996.[3]

After the split, Ian Crause formed Floorshow who recorded some material for an unreleased album which was to be called 'The Vertical Axis'. Some of these songs later appeared on his solo singles in the early 2000s ("Elemental" and "Head Over Heels"), which featured drummer Ritchie Thomas (Dif Juz, The Jesus and Mary Chain). Crause would then spend the best part of a decade away from music and eventually left the UK to move to Bolivia.

Crause returned to music in mid-2012 with a track called 'More Earthly Concerns', which resurrected Disco Inferno's sample-heavy textured approach and was released via various blogs. This was followed in November 2012 by 'The Song of Phaethon', a long-form single release on Bandcamp inspired by both Greek mythology and British involvement in the Second Gulf War. Several other tracks ('The Vertical Axis', 'Suns May Rise', 'Black Light', and 'A World of Ghosts') were released on Bandcamp in early 2013. Crause's long-delayed debut solo album, The Vertical Axis (also a Bandcamp release) followed in December 2013.

Paul Wilmott formed Transformer, who recorded a cover of Wire's "Outdoor Miner", which appeared on the Wire tribute album, @#!*% (1996). He would later play in the short-lived London Records-signed trip hop band Lisp.